Knights in Meridian
by SeaSpectre160
Summary: The new Knights of Earth get introduced to what Matt and the girls have been up to these past few years. A one-shot sequel to Tibki's 'Earth Day' (with the author's permission).


**This story is essentially a sequel to Tibki's 'Earth Day', which you pretty much have to read first if you want to understand this. It's rather long, consisting of 52 chapters, but it's well worth the read. This takes place right after the final chapter.**

 **Thanks to Tibki for reading this over, for giving me permission to post this, and just for writing 'Earth Day' in the first place! Also, thanks to Mistrel-Fox for letting me use her artwork.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'W.i.t.c.h.' or any of its characters. 'Earth Day' belongs to Tibki (so does Peter Olsen), and the cover art belongs to Mistrel-Fox on DeviantArt.**

 **WORD COUNT: 2698**

* * *

"You guys hold your secret meetings in the basement of the restaurant?" Nigel asked incredulously, as Matt and Eric carefully carried his wheelchair down the basement stairs (with Cornelia adding a bit of telekinetic help), "It smells like rotten eggs down here! Hope the Health Department doesn't look at this place anytime soon."

Will, Matt, and Nigel had just gotten back from the hospital. Waiting for them were the other Guardians, Eric, Lillian, Napoleon, Peter Olsen (with Mr. Huggles sitting on his shoulders), and Yan and Mira Lin.

Now that Nigel was out of the hospital, the Guardians and company had plans to introduce the newbies to Meridian. The Takedas had declined the invitation, as they were still recovering and mending the issues they'd been having, and had wanted to spend some time just as a family (including Liam, of course).

"Blame Blunk the Stink-Toad," Irma insisted, "You'll meet him sooner or later. He's two feet tall, green, and has super BO and kleptomania. He likes the dumpster out back."

"Well, now that everyone's here," Yan Lin began.

"How about a little field trip?" Mira finished.

"I told you to stop stealing my lines!"

Will pulled out the Heart of Candracar. "To Meridian we go!" And she opened a fold low enough to the ground that Nigel would be able to wheel himself through it.

"When do _I_ get to do that?!" Lillian asked excitedly.

* * *

As the Guardians had remembered to give advance notice, Queen Elyon had prepared a welcoming committee. She had deliberately chosen people whose appearances wouldn't cause alarm for the new arrivals (it was really best to ease them in slowly): Caleb, Julian, Elias, Drake, and Alborn, Miradel, and Mrs. Rudolph in their human forms.

"Dude," Nigel whispered to Eric, "The one on the left looks a _lot_ like our old math teacher."

"Hi, Mrs. Rudolph!" Hay Lin chirped. Whether it was a coincidence or she'd heard him and did it on purpose, no one but her would ever know.

Nigel's jaw dropped. "Our math teacher's an alien?!" he yelped.

Those already in the know just laughed.

"And she's not the only Meridianite you know," Cornelia revealed, "Remember my friend Elyon?"

"Elyon Brown? Blonde hair, braids, caused that panic when she and her family went on a super-long vacation and didn't tell anyone where? Her, too?!"

"Yep! She's the Queen of Meridian, and was taken to live on Earth to protect her from her older brother, Prince Phobos."

"I'm guessing the guy named after the Greek God of Fear is bad news, right?" Eric guessed.

"Right in one," Matt answered darkly, "The Meridianite monarchy passes from mother to daughter. Even though he's over a decade older than Elyon, he was only meant to be a regent if their parents died while she was _really_ young, which they did, unfortunately."

Miradel stepped forward. "When Phobos came to power, my husband and I managed to escape with Elyon to Earth, as did Galgheita, whom you know as Mrs. Rudolph. We raised and protected her there until Phobos's minion, Cedric, found her and convinced her to return with him."

"They had her convinced that Phobos was a benevolent ruler, and that we were helping the rebellion mount an insurrection," Taranee continued, "But eventually that was all cleared up, and now Phobos is cooling his heels in prison."

Eric raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend and her friend. "So... you guys basically staged a revolution?"

"Pretty much," Caleb confirmed, moving forward, "I'm Caleb, the former rebel leader, and this is my father Julian, Elias, and Drake. Welcome to Meridian."

"Queen Elyon is just finishing a meeting with some of the ambassadors," Julian explained, "It shouldn't be long before we can go in to see her."

They were led through the hallways to Elyon's throne room, from which a group of green- and blue-skinned men in medieval robes were exiting. The Guardians' group entered, and as soon as the doors closed behind them, Elyon, who'd been sitting ramrod straight while struggling to hide her boredom, visibly relaxed. "Glad that's over with. Hi, guys!"

Lillian grinned and ran over to her big sister's best friend. "Hi, Elyon!" she cried, "Look what I can do!" She used her newly-discovered magic to fly the rest of the way, but lost control and shot upwards. "Whoaaa!"

"Lillian!" Cornelia cried.

Elyon was startled for a second, but she got over it and flew up to her. "It's okay," she assured the younger girl, "Just take my hand." She slowly lowered them both down, where Cornelia and the three Knights were waiting worriedly.

"Lillian, I thought we told you to be careful!" Cornelia scolded gently, pulling her sister into a hug.

"Sorry," Lillian apologised, still shaking, "I- I thought I had a handle on the flying stuff, but I was so excited seeing Elyon after so long, I just..."

"It's alright," Matt assured her, "You should've seen Eric's first flight."

The Knight in question shuddered. "Don't remind me. I was nearly thirty feet up, and I had _no_ idea what was happening _at all_. Matt had to use his powers - uh, his newer powers - to get me down."

"And he screamed like a little girl all the way down, too," Nigel added.

"Shove it, Ashcroft."

"Language!" Cornelia hissed, clapping her hands over Lilian's ears.

"Sorry."

Elyon cleared her throat. "Anyway, welcome to Meridian, everyone. Who's up for a tour?"

* * *

Unfortunately, after all the introductions were made, their tour only lasted all of two minutes. Raythor came charging down the hall, stopping to drop down into a bow on one knee in front of Elyon. "My Queen!" he gasped, "There have been reports of a Lurdon uprising in a village by the mountains!"

Everyone who understood what that meant gasped. They hadn't managed to locate all the Lurdons freed by Phobos after his most recent defeat. They weren't anywhere near intelligent enough to lead their own rebellion, but they were still causing damage in the more remote areas of the kingdom, and putting innocent lives in danger.

"Need a hand?" Will offered.

Elyon smiled at her. "You're welcome to join. The quicker we get those creatures back into their cages, the better."

"Excuse me," Peter asked, speaking up for the first time, "What are Lurdons?"

"They're monsters who made up a large portion of my brother's army while he was in power. They aren't exactly the brightest of creatures, but they can be pretty tough, especially in large numbers."

"Sounds like fun," Nigel declared, then frowned and glanced down at his chair, "Too bad I don't get to play."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of action left once you're healed," Matt assured him.

Will lifted the Heart of Candracar. "Guardians, Unite!"

With several swirls of bright light, the five Guardians transformed into their fully-powered forms.

"Dude," Nigel whispered to his best friend while not taking his eyes off his girlfriend, "Do you ever get used to that?"

Matt winked. "Hasn't gotten old, yet."

* * *

They got to the attack site via a double-fold courtesy of Will and Elyon. The Queen of Meridian, the Guardians, Matt, and Eric all flew towards the sounds of screams and crashes. Caleb, Aldarn, Drake, and Raythor were all being carried by the various fliers.

The small village was a mess. People ran, screaming in terror - though a brave few were fighting back - as Lurdons chased them around and smashed things. A few fires were burning on the roofs of houses. There was no clear target or pattern to the damage; it was just random chaos.

"So... those things are Lurdons?" Eric asked as he got his first good look at the beasts.

"Uh-huh," Irma confirmed, "Ugly ole things, aren't they?" She punctuated her statement with a blast of water that washed several of the creatures away.

To be perfectly honest, the 'battle' wasn't much of one. The Lurdons were easily tricked and herded into one group, restrained by vines courtesy of Cornelia, and tele-transported to the prison by Elyon.

"Well, _that_ was anti-climactic," Matt commented drily.

"There's still the cleanup, though," Hay Lin pointed out, already flying off to coax some escaped farm animals back into their pens.

With no more Lurdons to fight, everyone else was quickly finding things to do. There were injured civilians to tend to, fires to put out, damaged infrastructure to fix, and general fears to be soothed all around.

* * *

Nigel was bored.

No, that was an understatement. 'Bored' could never hope to describe his utter distaste at being cooped up in this place while everyone else went to fight monsters. He couldn't even run a few laps around the castle, thanks to his damn broken leg!

Beside him, Lillian seemed to be getting just as restless, judging by her repeated sighs. "I'm booooored," she complained like the eight-year-old she was.

"Yeah, me too, kiddo," Nigel sighed, "Man, I thought I'd finally get to have some fun once I got out of the hospital." Just then, he got an idea. "Hey, Lils, why don't we give ourselves a little tour of the palace?"

Lillian's face lit up in excitement. "Cool! Let's go exploring! C'mon, Napoleon!" She picked up the startled cat, who'd been having a chat with Alborn.

The two of them set off running - and wheeling - through the halls, noting all the suits of armour and other things decorating the walls. Napoleon soon stopped protesting and got Lillian to set him down, following the pair while muttering about keeping them out of trouble. Soon, Lillian's attention was caught by a long line of paintings of beautiful women in fancy dresses. She recognised the first one right away. "Hey, that's Elyon!"

Nigel looked over at the painting next to Elyon's. He could see the strong resemblance between the two, and noted that they were wearing the same gold and ruby crown, and quickly made the connection. "And this must be her mother. Her birth mother, I mean. These must all be the Queens of Meridian."

"Wow!" Lillian gasped, looking at how long the line stretched down the hall, "All of them?!"

"Yep," Napoleon confirmed, "Elyon's family has been ruling this world for centuries."

Suddenly, Nigel's attention was drawn away from the paintings by a tugging on his left wrist and a foul smell. He glanced down and all but jumped out of his wheelchair when he saw a short, green, toad-like creature pulling his wristwatch off. "GAH! Hey!"

Lillian, who hadn't noticed the creature until Nigel cried out, shrieked and hid behind him. "What is that thing?!"

"JEEK!" Napoleon yelled.

The creature snarled at them, then turned and ran, Nigel's watch dangling from its hand.

"Whatever it is, it's got my watch!" Nigel turned his chair around and gave chase, hurtling through the halls after the creature, even as it hopped up onto the wall and started climbing on it as if it were fucking _Spider-Man_.

Eventually, Nigel lost sight of it, and brought his chair to a screeching halt. "Damn it," he cursed, "I really like that watch."

His stomach growled, the result of using what little he could of his powers so long after his last meal. Nigel turned around, hoping he could find his way back to Lillian (who would kill him more if they found out that he'd left her behind - Matt or Cornelia?), when suddenly, he heard another, much louder growl.

"That... was not my stomach."

Nigel _really_ didn't want to look and see what was making that noise. But his head turned of its own accord, and his eyes landed on two grey-skinned feet - one larger than the other but both _way_ too big to be human - then travelled upwards to take in the burly body that seemed to be made of stone, the clubbed left hand, the huge teeth, and the single, angry, red eye glaring at him.

* * *

"Is everything alright?" Peter asked the first person to step through the fold - Raythor, as it happened - as they returned to the throne room and hour after they'd left.

"We're fine, Dad," Matt assured his father as he exited the fold next and read the older man's worried expression, "The Lurdons were taken down easily, and none of the villagers were seriously hurt. Caleb, Drake, and Aldarn are staying behind to oversee the cleanup." He looked around for a certain eight-year-old, whom he'd expected to be begging him for details by now. "Where'd Lillian go?"

"She and Nigel were getting restless," Alborn explained, "so they went to look around the palace some more." He held up a hand to forestall Cornelia's protests. "They took Napoleon with them. He should know the castle well enough to know which areas to keep them away from."

That seemed enough to reassure everyone. While they all knew Nigel would never knowingly endanger Lillian, he didn't know anything about their surroundings here. But Napoleon knew enough about the castle to keep the other two out of trouble.

"AAAGH!"

Lillian's terrified scream echoed down the hall and through the throne room's open doors.

"LILLIAN!" Cornelia cried, zipping out the doors, everyone else hot on her heels.

They came upon a sight that elicited more confusion and irritation than anything else in most of them. Well, except for Eric. "How'd that thing get in here?!" he cried, aiming an arrow at Gargoyle, who had Lillian, Nigel, and Napoleon trapped in a corner and was looming over them threateningly. He nearly loosed it, but Hay Lin flitted into his path just in time.

"Eric, wait!"

"STAND DOWN!" Raythor ordered Gargoyle, "Those aren't intruders!"

"That's what _I_ told him," Napoleon grumbled, "But he wasn't having it."

"Could someone _please_ tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Nigel yelled.

Cornelia flew over and scooped up her trembling and terrified little sister. "Gargoyle's on our side," she explained, giving the large being a death glare anyway, "He's part of the castle's security; he must've not known you were allowed to be here."

Raythor quietly explained things to Gargoyle, who grumbled apologetically and looked as embarrassed as a fifteen-foot-tall, one-eyed monster can be. Raythor cocked his head, listening to his subordinate's explanation, then translated it for the others: "He says he caught that one-" He pointed at Nigel. "-fleeing after Jeek the Passling. Or at least, that's what he thought."

"If that 'Jeek' is the little toad-thing that stole my watch," Nigel growled, now more angry than afraid, "I wasn't _fleeing_ with him, I was _chasing_ him!"

A rustling sound preluded the arrival of Sandpit, who brought along a rather unwilling companion: Jeek the Smuggler, who struggled to escape his sandy restraints.

"Is this the culprit?" Elyon asked Nigel.

"Yep," Nigel growled, rolling a bit closer, "Give me back my watch!"

Jeek snarled. " _Mine_ , now!"

But the watch soon popped out of the sand holding him in place, landing in Nigel's outstretched hands.

* * *

Once Raythor, Gargoyle, and Sandpit took Jeek away, the tour was - thankfully - otherwise uneventful. Elyon took them to see the gardens, next, which turned out to be the trick to getting Lillian calmed down from her encounter with Gargoyle. She was utterly fascinated by the beautiful, magical plants on display. After a quick tour of the city proper, the group returned to the palace for dinner.

Meridianites and Earthlings mingled, discussing all they'd seen today and comparing their two worlds. "So, next time, who's up for a trip to Zamballa?" Will suggested.

Lillian was very enthusiastic about the planet with talking trees, but Peter shuddered. "Ah, thanks, but I think I'll pass on that one."

THE END

* * *

 **Before anyone asks, I have no intention of writing a sequel to this.**


End file.
